District offers free breakfast, lunch at needy schools

Escambia School officials on Aug. 13 announced that 30 local schools will be eligible for a program that will free meals for all the students in their halls.

These schools will participate in the federal Community Eligibility Provision program which will provide free breakfast and lunch to all students at each of those schools, beginning on the first day of school, Aug. 17.

The CEP provision means that parents at these schools are not required to submit an application for the free and reduced lunch program. But siblings attending schools not on the CEP list will need to reapply to maintain status.

The application will ask for a list of family members and parents should still include all names, because the number of people in a household can affect eligibility.